Summary

The novel is set in a dystopian near-future America. (The story is technically set in the year 2008, and the novel was published in 1994. It is possible that there are also elements of alternate history in the novel's historical timeline.) In Part 1, Chapter 1, narrator/protagonist Conrad Metcalf awakes in his apartment in Oakland, California. His job title is ‘private inquisitor,’ (basically a private investigator.) America is ruled by an authoritarian government, and it is illegal to ask questions unless you are a government inquisitor (basically a police investigator) or you are a private inquisitor that has been licensed by the government. (Metcalf used to be a private inquisitor, but he left after becoming disillusioned by the fascist nature of the Inquisitor’s Bureau.) The government also owns all of the news outlets. Metcalf hears on the news that Oakland urologist Maynard Stanhunt has been murdered...